Ice Sculpture at the World Ice Art Championship, every February in Fairbanks

The English Department offers a wide variety of programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including the successful M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing, the M.A. in Literature, and the new combined M.F.A.-M.A. Degree. For more information please see the specific program heading.

Our M.F.A. in Creative Writing is distinguished by a dedicated writing community comprised of award-winning writers and students from around the United States and beyond. M.F.A. students may focus on one of four genres: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or playwriting/screenwriting. The Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series hosts an impressive array of writers, including Patricia Hampl, Li-Young Lee, Lucille Clifton, Mark Doty, Charles Baxter, and Yusef Komunyakaa.

OurM.A. in Englishoffers students a chance to work with a lively and dedicated nexus of scholar/teachers. These faculty contribute a broad range of teaching and research expertise, from Alaska Native literature to literature of various cultures around the world; from medieval depictions of women, to Renaissance law in literature, to whaling narratives and frontier literature; from psychoanalytic theory, to gender and sexuality studies, to ecocriticism, to the fiction/nonfiction interface, to poetics, to forensic phonetics. The faculty/student ratio is low, offering great opportunities for mentored study. (Please explore individual faculty pages to find out more.) Recent thesis topics reflect a few facets of the diverse potential for incoming students, including on New Zealander Janet Frame (The Carpathians), a Post-Colonial study of the video game Myst, the works of James Hogg, and the Nigerian-American writer Uzodinma Iweala (Beasts of No Nation) attest to the real nature of that potential.

Our graduates frequently move on to doctoral programs including University of Edinburgh, University of North Carolina and more or to professional lives as teachers in secondary or post-secondary institutions. But in addition to helping prepare you for the future, this program is also a great chance to experience the natural beauty and charm of life in a small, friendly, Alaskan city .

Combined MFA/MA in Creative Writing and Literature: Combining the M.F.A. and M.A. Programs gives students the unique opportunity to work with talented and dedicated teaching writers and scholars in various areas of English Language and Literature. This degree is designed for students who wish to pursue the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, but who are, at the same time, interested in the scholarly study of literature. By carefully coordinating Literature and Creative Writing courses, students receive the combined M.F.A./M.A. degree in the same time it normally takes to receive the M.F.A. alone. This dual degree equips students to enter doctoral programs in creative writing and/or literature. It also prepares them to begin professional careers as teachers and/or writers.